


Lightning Struck Twice

by youhavewings



Series: It Shouldn't Have Been This Way [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-27 15:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youhavewings/pseuds/youhavewings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hatake Kakashi wakes up in a Konoha where the Fourth still lives. He sets out to figure out why he's been brought here. AU.</p><p>Drabble series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue I

**The Jounin _  
_**

_It wasn't supposed to be like this._

The thought catches in his throat, an internal scream that threatens to consume him.

 _It wasn't supposed to be like this._ His hand through Obito's chest. His hand through Rin’s chest.

This was why he had stopped Sakura from going after Sasuke. This was why he had foolishly tried to take on Sasuke instead of letting him fight Naruto. Neither of them should have to know this pain.

It's like ripping out your own heart. Even when you're killing the bad guy; even when you have all the justifications in the world. The greater good pales in comparison to the feel of your comrade's still pulsating heart in your hands and his blood in your eyes, lips, nose, mouth.

It is like this, anyway.

Hatake Kakashi is the only one who can stop Uchiha Obito, not because of who Uchiha Obito was or who he became in death to Hatake Kakashi. It is because of the dying act of a generous comrade. Not a friend, they hadn't even been friends.

 _It wasn't supposed to be like this._ They were supposed to supposed to meet in the afterlife. “I'm late”, he would say and Obito would smile with both his eyes.

He knows he has to get back to Naruto. It is _important_ that he gets back, he has Gai’s back to watch, a Division to command and precious people to protect. But it is all he can do to keep breathing in this moment, his hand through the ribcage of a man he has spent the better part of his life mourning, a dull numbness spreading through him from his gut, centered around the kunai shaped hole in it.

Belatedly, he realizes they're on the ground of this featureless pocket of space and Obito is on top of him, eyes dull instead of dim.

"Kamui," Obito whispers and he feels his left eye churn, tearing an actual scream from his throat.

 

 

 

 


	2. Prologue II

**Wolf (Age 17)**

There’s a darkness to this place that he refuses to acknowledge. He stops, pauses a second too long and the Ox nearly plows right into his shoulder. “Wolf?” the whisper is harsh when it comes, not as soft as it should be. His fingers flick out in a sharp pattern as he takes in the air, every sense straining – they’ve been caught. Six, maybe seven, are arranged around them in a classic noose.  
  
He tries not to despair – he knows many more might lie beyond the reach of his senses. The rest of the squad is nervous, they’re exhausted and running low on equipment and chakra, and he has to compensate, has to make sure they live and complete the mission.  
  
Thirteen, the Dog signals to him, and he really should have known better than to imagine there were only six. Iwa has always meant bad luck to him after all. He wonders if this place had been chosen for symbolism. Only a handful of years have passed since the Yellow Flash had laid waste to the Iwa-nin on this field; a handful years since Obito died.  
  
Konoha is weak right now. That’s all this is about really, not retribution. Just push and pull, and the moment you find a weakness, you just keep pushing and pushing. That was the way of the world. To choose the path of the shinobi was to choose to become a sacrificial pawn, a mercenary deployed at the whims of the rich. There was nothing noble or just about it.  
  
That’s what he tells himself as he guts the fifth Iwa-nin, his hand dropping through the other’s chest and tearing though muscles and organs in the five seconds it takes him to open his mouth in a scream that can’t happen anymore. An inhuman howl of grief to his left catches him off-guard and allows a strike to sink deep within his ribs. The Dog’s companion has gone wild, a frothing mess of grief and rage tearing into the men in the vicinity. The Wolf is grateful for the distraction that lets him briefly regroup with the Ox. The Rat was lost to them days ago and the Dog will soon be nothing more than carrion.  
  
The Wolf leans against the Ox briefly, glad that at least one of his team is still alive and relatively unhurt. The metallic tang of blood fills his mouth and every breath is more labored than the last. He hands over his precious burden to the Ox, knowing the operative would understand. The Wolf doesn’t have to tell him to run, the other is already taking off as the wolf digs deep into his reserves and produces a lightning clone to shadow him and fight off the few who might live to follow. This is his last bet.  
  
He senses the Inuzuka dog die and charges in with a fierce pride. The Konoha canine had taken one of the enemy with it. He’s down to the dregs now, three enemy nin, four explosive tags and a single kunai. No soldier pills. If he had one, survival might even be an option.  
  
There were only three but they were skilled, wily and strong enough to have held out so long. The Wolf is hard-pressed to draw out the battle and keep all three of them on their toes. His success is his undoing though, his katana runs through one of them and the blade refuses to budge easily, he abandons it but pain lances up his side, his moment of stillness opening up an opportunity for a deep furrow to be carved into his back, nearly dropping him to his knees.  
  
The Wolf vaults up a tree instead and curses, he has no kunai left, no way of countering katana blows in a close encounter melee. He throws his body left as a strike thunks into trunk behind him, diving for the glint that had caught his eye. The Wolf is already using the kunai, fingers looped around the hilt and parrying a thrust when realization dawns on him. Three prongs.  
  
Nostalgia bricks him over the head and he tries his best to shove it aside. The past will only land him in a grave sooner, like those before. The shinobi facing him is desperate, his brown eyes dilated and bright blond hair matted with blood, twelve of his comrades dying around him, and emotion lends strength, creates ingenuity.  
  
A forceful push sends the Wolf flying and he has to twist in the air, ignoring the renewed throbbing in his side and the way his muscles scream in protest, just to avoid a collision with a boulder. The distraction is enough for the Iwa-nin to create a clone that peels off to track the Ox as he lunges for the slim form in front of him. Even with multiple wounds gushing lifeblood at every turn, the silver-haired shinobi is dangerous. Yet, the blond jounin felt only contempt for the Wolf. The porcelain mask had cracked some time ago and revealed a teenager with mismatched eyes; the Copy-nin Kakashi, poster boy for the Konoha Black Ops had turned out to be nothing more than that, a boy.  
  
The Wolf knew he had to choose, though really, there was only one option. The kunai leaves his fingers with a whisper; the hilt is wrapped in cloth, swathed in black markings that flare to life as the sharp prongs plunge into and then through the clone’s neck. In the absence of sharp steel, he proffers up an arm as a shield, letting his opponent’s blade sheath itself in his flesh and grate against bone. He would have screamed, should have screamed, but his attention is elsewhere, fingers scrabbling deep into an eye socket, gouging flesh and ripping out tissue until his prey screams and slackens long enough for him to slide blood-soaked fingers down to the neck and snap it. Something within him laughs in delight; he’d lost an eye not far from here.  
  
The three-pronged kunai completes its arc through the air and ploughs into the ground the same instant the world explodes in darkness. 

 


End file.
